Damascus chef

This is the blade i made from the piece of damascus from Tim's billet. @32t

This was my first attempt at laddering a long time ago. It's not perfect but you can see the rungs of the ladder, more or less.

Its a beauty. Nice job. The ladders are not real strong but you can see them. Fine job.

I like it. I actually was going to ask how you got that pattern. If one doesn't know it's supposed to be a ladder pattern then it doesn't matter that it's pattern isn't strong. I admit all i know about making a pattern in damascus is from ''Forged in Fire" but would the pattern be any different/better if instead of cuts made in the steel they were fullered in?(and then some material ground away from the surface before finishing forging) It seems it would compress the layers at the bottom of groove and leave them wide on the amplitude? It's just something i've pondered as my mind wonders around.

I think the problem was that I just eyeballed the cuts and didn't really cut them deep enough or wide enough.
If you only cut 1/3 of the thickness on either side, and then forge it flat, and have to grind away some thickness, you lose most of the distinction between the different parts.

What compounds the issue is that I did the cutting when the steel was still a rectangular billet. and only after flattening, did I forge it knife shaped. And this means that in the pointy part of the blade, you draw everything out until it gets pretty random. It would have been better to make a very thick and short knife shape, then ladder and then draw. But I started all this when I was still doing everything by hand.

Little off topic but i remember the episode of forged in fire where the guys got to choose what pattern they had to do by picking a blank out on a table. Who ever made those pieces did such beautiful work. The designs were perfect. It was the first time i really got to see what paterns should look like.
Still, thats a damn good looking patern Bruno.

I recently spent a little time in a shop in Louisiana. The guy that owned the shop is well known for his damascus steel and it was interesting to learn about how patterns are created and manipulated. I learned a ton. How did you create your pattern Bruno?

This is a knife forged by Bruno in Texas from the same billet with a random pattern.

It sits in my kitchen knife block and gets used most days!

Glued together. Almost ready.

Looking good Bruno.

RezDog said:

Looking good Bruno.

Click to expand...

I think great would be a better adjective.........

How about Awesome!

Aaaaand done.

Very much a looker!

WOW!

The little bit of green in the handle is the bomb!
Beautiful Damascus too.

Pete <:-}

The green also glows in the dark

My children all all here right now, and I was was showing them your knife. Everyone agrees that this is an exceptional knife. My daughter will be stoked to hear that the green glows in the dark. She was pretty impressed with the green and sea cow bone.

@Mike Blue this is made from Tim's billet, which he made at the meet at your place, many years ago.
I laddered it (inexpertly) before forging a knife.

It arrived at my place safe and sound yesterday .

But the package took a beating!

My pictures don't do it justice.

Very cool!